


The Stranger

by Roadcrew



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Crossover, Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-12
Updated: 2014-11-12
Packaged: 2018-02-25 02:06:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2604623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roadcrew/pseuds/Roadcrew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High-level characters are scary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Stranger

"I have no intention to harm any person here, pony or not," the Stranger said. Her face radiated a warm benefice that almost matched Celestia's. I am gentle, I am trustworthy, her body said, in the softness of her shoulders and the way there was the perfect subtle uncertainty in the set of her neck and jaw.

"…you're too good at this," Twilight said. "You could just be… lying about everything and I wouldn't be able to tell. And you're doing *that* again."

"Ah, sorry," the Stranger said, and she straightened up a little, and everything snapped back into focus. Twilight stared at the sleek bipedal frame and the manipulator digits at the end of the forelimbs. It had been right in front of her the whole time, but the mare—no, something else, she didn't know the right word—had a way of… blending, almost, so that the out-of-place details all shifted out of notice. "It's something of a habit. And—you're right."

Twilight flinched as that body language changed all at once. The shoulders tightened, the back straightened, the mouth went from a gentle smile to a wide and wicked one… it was like watching Winona transform into a timberwolf right in front of her. Shivers went down her spine.

"I could be lying," the Stranger continued. "I could just be an assassin, here to lure in all the Bearers of the Elements, and the Royal Pony Sisters, and murder them at once." Her words were so cold that Twilight could almost feel ice forming on the windows and walls. "I might plunge Equestria into a thousand years of darkness and death, where only the cruelest and the wickedest would survive!" Twilight took a step back and her heart caught in her throat. "At my hand, all laws and morals would be thrown aside, with ponies shouting and killing and reveling in joy!"

It was the middle of the day, and bright and warm and clear-skied, but Twilight could almost feel the thunder crashing down outside. She let out a low, strained gasp.

"But if I really wanted to do something like that," the Stranger said, as her sudden demonic fierceness collapsed back into maternal warmth like a balloon deflating, "I'd have already gotten started on it. I'm just here to relax. You get tired, being the knife in the dark for so long. Though I should say—your Celestia's a nice sort of demigod, but she's not as paranoid as she should be."

"What do you mean?" Twilight said, hesitant, and when she realized she'd been cowering on the floor with her hooves covering her face, she straightened up and tried to ignore her blush.

"Well," the Stranger said, as she took Celestia's crown out from a pocket much too small for it to fit, "it'll probably take her until about—now—to realize that she's missing this."

There was a sudden, ungainly shriek from outside that turned into an awkward and very loud royal cough.


End file.
